Windows 8 reformat without having a disk

Hi ChrisSchultz1416,

Thank you for posting your query in the Microsoft Communities. Follow these steps to make bootable USB for Windows 8.

Format a USB flash drive

In case you’re wondering how big of an USB flash drive you need, an 8GB drive is perfect since it can accommodate any of the three available ISO images. Here are the steps to format an USB flash drive.

Insert an USB flash drive into the computer.

Start a Command Prompt as an Administrator and type diskpart. This starts the Disk Partition tool which you need to use to format the flash drive. Once you see the DISKPART command prompt, type in the following commands:

a)    DISKPART> list disk

b)    DISKPART> select disk #

c)    DISKPART> clean

d)    DISKPART> create partition primary

e)    DISKPART> select partition 1

f)     DISKPART> active

g)    DISKPART> format FS=NTFS

h)    DISKPART> assign

i)      DISKPART> exit             

Make the USB flash drive bootable

We just need to make the USB flash drive bootable before copying the files. To do this, you can use the Boot Sector Registration Tool (bootsect.exe) which is located in the boot folder of the Windows 8 ISO image.

Start a Command Prompt as an Administrator and CHDIR into the boot folder of the Windows 8 ISO image, e.g. I:\boot where I:\ is the drive where the ISO image is mounted

Type bootsect /nt60 E:                       /* where E: is the drive assigned to the USB flash drive */

Eg: F:\boot>bootsect.exe /nt60 E:  /*Where F: is the mounted ISO & E: is the USB flash drive*/

Copy the Windows 8 files onto the USB flash drive

From a command line, use XCOPY to copy the Windows 8 files to the USB flash drive. In the example below, I:\ is the drive where the ISO image is mounted. F:\ is the USB flash drive.

XCOPY I:\*.* F:\ /E /F /H

Thanks.

You will be able to use this to reinstall Windows 8. But remember 8 requires  that either Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7 be on the Computer when you upgrade to Windows 8 as all copies of Windows 8 are upgrades. Microsoft didn't release a full version of Windows 8.

Hope this helps and if you need further assistance post and we will be glad to Help you.

The above opinion is mine and mine alone and doesn't necessarily reflect that of Microsoft, it's employees, or any other member of this forum.

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." -John Muir

Well, this wasnt helpfull at all. I just want to wipe my computer. why cant it be as simple as win xp or 7. So much hate for this product right now.

Will this same method work as well if instead of purchasing Windows 8 I upgraded from Windows Vista Business to Windows 8 Pro?